7.19.2013

"She looks just like you."

Hearing those five words makes my heart swell. Swell. I think our brand new baby girl is quite possibly the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. I want people to know she is mine, to know she belongs to me.

Parenting brings many insights, I'm on baby number five, and they are still coming. Honestly, I thought there wouldn't be quite so many after having five children, but alas, I was absolutely wrong. Some of the most profound ones have been because of this girl, Baylee.

When I first heard someone say those words to me, "She looks just like you," I felt my entire being smile. As God's children, He is pleased when He hears someone say, "She looks like Jesus." I don't mean we look Jewish with an angular nose and olive skin, but that our heart, attitude, words, or actions displayed the love of Christ to someone. His heart swells when someone looks at His children and they actually look like they belong to Him, when people know whose you are.

Baylee is beautiful, I promise (I'll post pictures eventually), and as the thought settled into my heart, I realized that if people think she looks like me, there must be beauty in me. The illumination from earlier just got brighter; when people see Jesus in us, it points to the beauty of our Creator, of our Father. In those wonderful moments when we look like Him, we are showing people that He is glorious, that He is kind-hearted, that He is forgiving, that He is beautiful.